748 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1898. 



DIADOPHIS AMABILIS DOCILIS Baird and Girard. 



Diadophis docilis Baird aud Girard, Cat. N. Amer. Ropt., Pt. 1, Serp., 1853, p. 114. 

 Dladophis tcxensis Kennicott, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., 1860, p. 328. 



Body above uniform bluish ash-gray; yellowish white beneath, spot- 

 ted with black. A yellowish white occipital ring, margined with a 

 narrow black line. 



Fig. 158. 

 Diadophis amabilis docilis Baird and Girard. 

 X 2. - 

 Pecos to Eio Grande, Texa.s. 



Cat. No. 2078, U.S.N.M. 



Head narrower than in D. a. amabilis. Vertical plate subpentagonal, 

 elongated, sides nearly parallel to the point where it enters between 

 the occipitals. Prefrontals and eyes proportionally much smaller than 

 in D. a. amabilis. Body very slender, covered with proportionally large 



scales. Head above blackish brown. 

 Upper labials and head beneath yel- 

 lowish, mottled with black. Occipi- 

 tal ring yellowish white, covering the 

 length of three scales. The anterior 

 black margin i^asses to the black 

 spots along the labials. Small black 

 spots are irregularly scattered all 

 over the abdomen; they form one 

 series on each side, along the exterior 

 and posterior margin of the scutellte, 

 to the tip of the tail. All the scales 

 are uniform ash-gray, but when ex- 

 amined closely they api)ear punctured with minute black dots. The 

 bases of the scales are black when stretched apart. The tail beneath 

 is almost unicolor, exhibiting but very few dots. 



Devils River, Texas ; gastrosteges, 193 -f 1 ; tirosteges, 57 ; total length, 11| inches ; 

 tail, 2^ inches. Two specimens (Cat. Nos. 2078, 5178) have seventeen rows of 

 scales. 



Diadophis amabilis docilis Baird and Girard. 



i'lg. 109. 



Diadophis amabilis docilis 



Girard. 



Type of D. texensis Kennicott, 



X2. 



New Orleans to Galveston. 



Cat. No. 1897, U.S.N.M. 



Baird and 



Catalogue 

 No. 



Number 

 of speci- 

 mens. 



Locality. 



Nature of specimen. 



2076 



6070 

 2078 

 5178 

 1897 



Head of Trinity Elver, Texas 



Sonora, Mexico 



Pecos to Kio Grande, Texas 



Fort Stockton , Texas 



New Orleans to Galveston, Texas (type of D. texensis) 



Alcoholic, 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 

 do. 



